Homestead mailing list

[Marie McHarry <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 11:45 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> True, and I think that is what a lot of people want to reform.  We have
> to be more discriminating and make sure that those who are uninsured are
> citizens.

In the end, I'm not so sure that making sure non-citizens don't have
health insurance is a smart idea. Personally, I'd like to make sure
that all people who are infected with antibiotic-resistant TB or the
most recent plague (let's say that H1N1 does mutate into something
really virulent, for example). Cutting these people out of the health
care delivery system will seem penny-wise and pound-foolish if an
epidemic hits the country.

We could cut the flow of undocumented workers into this country if
employers were penalized for hiring them, but that's not going to
happen so long as big business and big ag need cheap labor.

Furthermore, many people are underinsured, dealing with
> pre-existing conditions or limited policies that would not cover things
> like mental health care or addiction treatment or dental care.
> Something needs to be done for self employed people, and we need to
> really scale back the paperwork and cut the beauracracy in healthcare.

Not making reasonably priced health insurance available to freelancers
and small businesses has hurt this country badly. I worked as a
freelancer for years until Jim needed health care that he was only
going to get if I got a job with a large company or the state. I know
I'm not alone because I live in a farming community where every farm
wife has a job with the state or with one of the big hospitals so the
family will have insurance. For many the commute is long and the kids
go into daycare so mommy can work.

 Alot of emergency
> care could be eliminated with better education, with parents making
> better decisions about their children, perhaps by taking them to a free
> or scaled clinic staffed by volunteers instead of to the emergency room
> where they charge you for the pillow you lay on.

I agree wholeheartedly with both of those ideas. The penultimate time
I took Jim to the ER, we'd sat around for an hour or so (he was in
moderately severe congestive heart failure) when Jim nudged me and
said something to the effect that we were in the wrong place. Why? I
asked. Well, he said, we didn't stop and get our French fries and
giant cokes before we came in. Darn, if he wasn't right: most of
population of the waiting room were huge fat (I'm talking your basic
300-hundred pounder, minimum), and they all had giant cokes and French
fries. Mostly, their kids were little and still normal size -- hadn't
had a chance to fatten up yet. Nobody looked to be acutely ill, but I
suppose Jim didn't either, except for the funny color of his skin and
that he was gasping for breath.

  I think everyone in
> this country should be able to have some kind of insurance.  I just
> don't think it is right that some pay for all...
>
We have to change the present system if we want to change that. The
most common number I've seen is that paying for the uninsured adds
about a thousand dollars a year to health insurance premiums.

>
>
> I apologize for being a smart ass in my other post.  Don't take it
> personal.  I'm just punchy because I don't know where my kid is.  He was
> in the Samoan region a few days ago ...

Oh damn! I'd be punchy too. I guess no news is good news in this case,
but I can imagine that waiting is not fun. To say the least.
>
Marie, sending good thoughts out to you and your son